Chairman of the Arab Gulf Fund of the United Nations Development Programme Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz has announced that Saudi Arabia will host a branch of the Arab Open University that is scheduled to start offering academic courses in 2002. The first phase, costing almost U.S. $32 million funded by AGFUND, will have four major specializations. Memoranda of understanding have been signed with the British Open University and the International Open University for cooperation in the project. Other branches will be in Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon and Egypt, with Sudan, Syria and Yemen planning to join later.